What to Expect When You are Expecting: The Challenges of Technology Adoption Across A Dispersed Organization – Breakaway Thinking

The following is a guest blog post by Mark Muddiman, Engagement Manager at The Breakaway Group (A Xerox Company). Check out all of the blog posts in the Breakaway Thinking series.
Mark Muddiman
Imagine you have just installed your new clinical information system. Everyone has been waiting for months and excitement has peeked; the big day is right around the corner. Go live is coming and all the organizational sites are prepared for the new workflows and application. The application goes live and suddenly everyone needs help, support is inundated, and it becomes apparent that the expectations were not aligned to the reality of preparedness.

All too often this is a common scenario for organizations that are dispersed over large geographic areas. Adopting healthcare technology is difficult in a singular location, but certain challenges are uniquely amplified when an organization is dispersed. What challenges can you expect related to adoption and learning, and what can you do to ensure you are prepared?

Expect a greater emphasis on change management
As HIMSS reports, individual sites may fight the loss of autonomy as everyone is brought to a standard application or workflow. Each location has developed their own way of using the legacy application, and they must now learn new procedures and processes in addition to a new application. Multiple locations present multiple groups to manage at a distance, without the ability of physical project team members to be present at all locations throughout the adoption process.

Expect deviations from best practice and follow-up learning
Medical Economics recommends that learning continues beyond the initial go live. Staff will deviate from the best practice workflows as they forget less common tasks, and learn to navigate and use the application in different ways. Deviation from workflows introduces inefficiencies, dependency for support, and impedes the ability of staff to rotate between locations because the experience differs. Anticipate a need to provide follow up learning that reinforces best practices and helps avoid poor use of the application.

Expect each location will need onsite support
During go live, staff will often forget where to start and need a source to turn to when they forget a step in the new application and workflow they are using. However, it is very expensive and likely impractical to have a project team available at each location. Instead, providing assistance through super users and clinical champions along with easily referenced education materials will provide accessible onsite support for most issues.

What can you do?

Bring local leadership into decision making
Regional and local leaders can clarify the unique needs and constraints of their site when selecting applications and designing workflows. Whether equipment varies at each site or there are different service offerings, there are multiple benefits of involving local leadership. It allows leadership to determine the appropriate level of standardization that still respects the unique needs of each site, consequently removing the necessity to deviate from the standard workflow. Involving local and regional leaders engages them, provides a sense of ownership and cooperation in the project, and will help reduce resistance to change. It is imperative leadership is aligned at all levels, engaged in the adoption process, and supportive of the approach if adoption is to succeed.

Implement and ensure metrics are utilized
Metrics serve as key indicators to progress, knowledge retention, and proficiency, but in dispersed locations metrics also serve as indicators that would otherwise be filled with in-person observation. Metrics show whether a location is developing poor workflow practices or struggling with the change; subsequently metrics indicate whether a site needs additional support or learning. New metrics may be employed, such as surveys to gain feedback from multiple sites that could otherwise be obtained from a meeting or observation.

Follow up with each location often
Some sites will likely be more vocal in their need of support than others. It’s important to follow up with all sites and provide remedial education if metrics indicate a need to do so. Staff may need refresher training if inefficiencies arise, but there may be a root cause such as an educational or workflow gap that was previously unknown. Because adoption is a long-term commitment, it is important to provide continuous availability of learning while sustaining content to support changes to the application and learning needs.

Employ communication from leadership effectively
Effective communication goes a long way in reducing resistance to change. It also provides a channel for feedback and continuous collaboration. Communication should come from executive leaders to show their support of the adoption initiative, but also from local leaders. Staff can’t stop operations in a healthcare setting to join conference calls, and emails aren’t always read, but local leaders are able to directly communicate with staff. A comprehensive set of communications ensures an aligned message at all leadership levels and improves the ability of messages to reach staff.

While these suggestions may help, there is a proven methodology to comprehensively address challenges. At the Breakaway Group, we work with leadership to support engagement and change management at all levels while providing comprehensive sets of communication. Our experienced teams can provide workflow recommendations and develop education directly from the application that is sustained through the life of the partnership. Real-time data and metrics provide indicators of how each location is performing and undergoing change. Regardless of the organizational structure or of what to expect, we employ a methodology to help any organization achieve successful technology adoption and value realization.

Xerox is a sponsor of the Breakaway Thinking series of blog posts. The Breakaway Group is a leader in EHR and Health IT training.

   

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